Also a question regarding the Chipotle cheese sauce: I wonder if the butternut can be subtituted with something else? It's a very seasonal veg here and most of the times hard to find (same goes for pretty much all pumpkins/squashes). Would sweet potato be too starchy? What about cooked mashed carrots? I think I'll just have to try them both out.

I would totally try it, maybe with even with sweet potato and carrot combined....but i haven't actually made it yet.

pickledtreats wrote:

I'm going to try some soaked cashews in my Cuisinart processor tomorrow. I think the thing about "regular/cheap" blenders is the unpredictable and varying quality - they can surprise you, but my experience has often been negative. I miss my Vita-Mix! I have an immersion blender, so I might give that a go, but it's also a low-end plastic version :/

I have a regular blender. Usually it's been all i've needed for blending the cashews, but if it doesn't quite get them smooth enough my immersion blender finishes them off very nicely.

ReadingVegan wrote:

So, quick question about the sharp cheddar recipe on page 14. I've had it culturing for about 36 hours now, and when I checked on it tonight it seems to have "risen" a little bit (similar to bread). I noticed air pockets in the cheese around the edge of the glass bowl it's in, and I decided to stir it and noticed the air pockets were all the way through the cheese, making the texture similar to whipped butter or whipped cream cheese. Is this normal? I tasted a little bit of it and it tasted very tangy and sharp, but not rancid. Anybody else have this happen to their cheddar? Should I be concerned?

Thanks in advance! :)

This happens to all my cheeses! I think it would be more of a concern if it didn't happen, it shows your rejuvelac is alive and well. Carbon dioxide is a normal product of fermentation, just like in bread and bubbles in champagne

I have to be careful to leave plenty of room for my cheeses to 'rise'. I just made the camembert and a bit of it 'escaped' : )Unlike me, I think my bacterias and yeasts are a bit over-excited by the summer weather here.

So, quick question about the sharp cheddar recipe on page 14. I've had it culturing for about 36 hours now, and when I checked on it tonight it seems to have "risen" a little bit (similar to bread). I noticed air pockets in the cheese around the edge of the glass bowl it's in, and I decided to stir it and noticed the air pockets were all the way through the cheese, making the texture similar to whipped butter or whipped cream cheese. Is this normal? I tasted a little bit of it and it tasted very tangy and sharp, but not rancid. Anybody else have this happen to their cheddar? Should I be concerned?

That's normal. I've had it happen too. The cheese was fine.

Thanks, Cornelie. That puts my mind at ease. Can't wait to dig into it this week! :)

If I'm not mistaken, the rise is from the happy bacteria giving off gasses and such. The gasses get trapped and make it sort of rise. I guess not dissimilar from bread with the exception that nuts don't have the gluten to "trap" it like bread dough, so it doesn't get as big.

Anyway, I'ts not a bad thing, and the better cheeses I've made have had the highest poof factor.

Also a question regarding the Chipotle cheese sauce: I wonder if the butternut can be subtituted with something else? It's a very seasonal veg here and most of the times hard to find (same goes for pretty much all pumpkins/squashes). Would sweet potato be too starchy? What about cooked mashed carrots? I think I'll just have to try them both out.

I can't say for this recipe specifically, but in general I find sweet potatoes to be a pretty good substitute for butternut and other squash. They are a bit sweeter and more flavorful than butternut, and probably have a lower moisture content, but do have a similar flavor and texture. I would say go ahead and use them, you just might have to add a little extra liquid to get the right consistency.

i know my old osterizer couldn't handle it unless i only made 1/3 C. at a time and it took forever and would get pretty warm (probably not good). i don't think the parm requires much cashew-blending and it's really good. also the smoked provolone only requires a bit of cashews and it's also deeeeeelicious.

i know it's expensive but i bought my vitamix in august and have used it almost every day since (just had some yummy cream of spinach soup - organic spinach was on sale at Berkeley Bowl!).

pickledtreats wrote:

Yikes. I definitely do not recommend giving it a go with a regular blender. I soaked the cashews for 12 hours, but the blender couldn't handle it. I even added more rejuvelac than called for and it wouldn't blend. I ended up saving a bit to experiment with, but it's very crunchy/grainy. I suppose I'll have to it this cheesemaking on hold until I get a high speed blender. If I feel like risking the disappointment again, I'll try the idea of pre-chopping the nuts in the food processor before blending, but that seems like such a mess. :/

Here's what you can do if your blender won't cut it. Use raw cashew butter. 4.5 ounces of raw cashew butter is the equivalent of 1 cup of cashews. Most of the recipes call for 2 cups, so use 9 ounces. No need to soak. It works just as well. I have made several cheeses with it. Will put that suggestion in the next reprint.

Hi, so this has probably been addressed elsewhere in the thread, but I thought I would ask anyway: I've been trying to make rejuvelac for over a week now, and haven't had success yet. Help!

First, I tried brown rice. In hindsight, I think I just didn't wait long enough for it to sprout, because after 3 days I'd had enough. I think it takes more like 5-6 days for that. So I scrapped the rice and switched to pearled barley. That was on Thursday. As of today, it still hasn't sprouted, at least I don't think so. It seems to smell like rejuvelac should, at this point. But the barley looks fluffy and intact. When I drain it twice daily and do the moistening step, it does look like tiny little circular pieces are being caught in my sieve, so I am starting to wonder if that is the sprouting, but then when I dump the barley into the sieve the sprouts fall off? Or something? I'm lost here.

Hi, so this has probably been addressed elsewhere in the thread, but I thought I would ask anyway: I've been trying to make rejuvelac for over a week now, and haven't had success yet. Help!

First, I tried brown rice. In hindsight, I think I just didn't wait long enough for it to sprout, because after 3 days I'd had enough. I think it takes more like 5-6 days for that. So I scrapped the rice and switched to pearled barley. That was on Thursday. As of today, it still hasn't sprouted, at least I don't think so. It seems to smell like rejuvelac should, at this point. But the barley looks fluffy and intact. When I drain it twice daily and do the moistening step, it does look like tiny little circular pieces are being caught in my sieve, so I am starting to wonder if that is the sprouting, but then when I dump the barley into the sieve the sprouts fall off? Or something? I'm lost here.

Hey, Beethecookie!

I had no luck with brown rice either. And I left mine for a week! It was starting to smell rancid, so I e-mailed Miyoko and she said to try quinoa (the unsprouted kind, which is the only kind I can get in my neck of the woods, but evidently there is a type that's already sprouted). In about 24-48 hours, I had Rejuvelac! So I'll definitely be using quinoa from now on.

On the pearled barley note, hasn't pearled barley been somewhat processed? That's the "pearled" part, correct? Could that have anything to do with the lack of sprouts? I'm just guessing. I don't know if pearled barley counts as a whole grain or not.

Try quinoa and see if you have better results (watch it carefully, though, because it does sprout very quickly). Hope this helps! :)

Yeah, I did read that about quinoa sprouting quickly, but I just thought I'd try the grains I had more of before using quinoa. I guess I learned my lesson though! I'm not sure about pearled barley, but you're probably right.

Hi, so this has probably been addressed elsewhere in the thread, but I thought I would ask anyway: I've been trying to make rejuvelac for over a week now, and haven't had success yet. Help!

First, I tried brown rice. In hindsight, I think I just didn't wait long enough for it to sprout, because after 3 days I'd had enough. I think it takes more like 5-6 days for that. So I scrapped the rice and switched to pearled barley. That was on Thursday. As of today, it still hasn't sprouted, at least I don't think so. It seems to smell like rejuvelac should, at this point. But the barley looks fluffy and intact. When I drain it twice daily and do the moistening step, it does look like tiny little circular pieces are being caught in my sieve, so I am starting to wonder if that is the sprouting, but then when I dump the barley into the sieve the sprouts fall off? Or something? I'm lost here.

Miyoko posted this a few pages a couple of pages back

miyokoschinner wrote:

For those of you having trouble with rejuvelac, a cheese making supply company that carries my book has come up with a remarkable and easy way to make it using malted grains. Who would have thought! Here's a link to their page (scroll down) and they'll lead you through making an easy rejuvelac that bypasses the sprouting process. http://www.cheesemaking.com/VeganChz.html

You should be able to get malted grains from homebrew suppliers. Malted grains have been germinated (but not sprouted) then dried. Amylase enzymes in the grains have already converted the complex sugars (starches) into simple sugars (maltose) as part of the sprouting process, meaning that there is food more immediately available to the bacteria and yeasts living on the grains. At least i think that's how it works....i find it very interesting : )

Thanks, Loomi! As coincidence would have it, my husband brews beer at home, so he is always making orders through a homebrew supply company. Next time he places an order, I'll have to that the malted grains to the list. What a great idea!

I used some of my air-dried cheddar to make one of my pre-vegan favorites--pimento cheese--and am happy to report it was outstanding! I mixed the cheddar with some vegenaise, minced garlic, chopped roasted red peppers and a couple dashes of smoked paprika and cayenne pepper.

I've had my cheddar aging for 6+ weeks, and the flavor is nice and sharp. My cheddar never actually got as firm as dairy cheddar, but shredding it was no problem. I eat this stuff with crackers and celery sticks for a snack or grilled between some Trader Joe's sourdough.

Last night I had the brilliant idea to use up some of the brie in an alfredo sauce...wow. Basically, I took half a brie recipe, blended the crepe out of about a third a cup of cashews and 1.5 cups of water, mixed it together. Added some garlic, salt and cracked black pepper; adjusted with water to the correct consistency...And it was the first time that I have cared about alfredo since giving dairy the boot.

I just veganized one of my partner's favorite snacks/lunch foods: cheese filled croissants. One of the local supermarkets has a brand of accidentally vegan croissant dough in a refrigerated can. I filled the croissants with some sharp cheddar, onion, black pepper and basil. It was very good. I liked them even better than the dairy cheese version.

wow, Elizabeth, that does look outstanding! the color is most attractive. is that a result of the pimento? when and how did you incorporate the pimento?

Elizabeth wrote:

I used some of my air-dried cheddar to make one of my pre-vegan favorites--pimento cheese--and am happy to report it was outstanding! I mixed the cheddar with some vegenaise, minced garlic, chopped roasted red peppers and a couple dashes of smoked paprika and cayenne pepper.

I've had my cheddar aging for 6+ weeks, and the flavor is nice and sharp. My cheddar never actually got as firm as dairy cheddar, but shredding it was no problem. I eat this stuff with crackers and celery sticks for a snack or grilled between some Trader Joe's sourdough.

wow, Elizabeth, that does look outstanding! the color is most attractive. is that a result of the pimento? when and how did you incorporate the pimento?

Thanks! The cheese color you see in the photo is not from the pimentos. I achieved the "orangy" color by adding a smidge of Wilton gel coloring when I initially made the cheese. I didn't have the brown miso called for in the recipe, so I substituted white miso. I knew that would make the end product lighter in color, so I thought by adding a bit of orange coloring it would make the cheese look more like dairy cheddar, and thus more appealing to the omnis in my house.

wow, Elizabeth, that does look outstanding! the color is most attractive. is that a result of the pimento? when and how did you incorporate the pimento?

Thanks! The cheese color you see in the photo is not from the pimentos. I achieved the "orangy" color by adding a smidge of Wilton gel coloring when I initially made the cheese. I didn't have the brown miso called for in the recipe, so I substituted white miso. I knew that would make the end product lighter in color, so I thought by adding a bit of orange coloring it would make the cheese look more like dairy cheddar, and thus more appealing to the omnis in my house.

Everything was going fine until I added the agar to the cheese base this morning. I cooked it for the full 5 minutes, and it seemed smooth and glossy to me (but this is the first time I've cooked agar like that, so I have no prior experience by which to judge), and I poured it into the blender on top of the cheese, but my blender (a fairly expensive Cuisinart) had trouble processing it because it was so thick. I babied it along for probably a good 15-20 minutes, stirring every so often and trying to make sure all of the cheese got blended thoroughly.

I also added a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum towards the end of my blending endeavor. I then scooped balls of mozzarella into the iced brine using a medium-size ice cream scoop. After I had scooped it all into the brine, I took a mozzarella ball out and tasted a little bit of it. The cheese itself tasted great--very much like I remember mozzarella. But my blender evidently wasn't able to blend up all the agar because there are little rubbery balls of it all throughout. Which made the texture very unpleasant and gave it a horrible chemical-like aftertaste. Also, the cheese wasn't as firm as I was hoping it would be. It just was slightly firmer than it was while culturing on my counter. I'm hoping it'll firm up in the fridge today (I added extra ice to it before I left for work, in hopes that that would help), but I'm a little discouraged about the agar issue. Did I do something wrong? Is there a way to ensure it blends better? Maybe I should've used my food processor instead of the blender? Maybe I didn't cook the agar long enough? Any insight would be much appreciated!

Thank you all in advance for the help!! You guys have been great--always polite and helpful. The support makes this cheese-making adventure much easier. :)